Steps to ward off Type 2 diabetes

4:39 PM,
Apr. 5, 2014

Written by

Alyson Chugerman

If Type 2 diabetes were an infectious disease passed from one person to another, public health officials would say we're in the midst of an epidemic. This difficult disease is striking an ever-growing number of adults. Even more alarming, it's now beginning to show up in teenagers and children.

More than 24 million Americans have diabetes; of those, about 6 million don't know they have the disease. In 2007, diabetes cost the U.S. an estimated $116 billion in excess medical spending and an additional $58 billion in reduced productivity. If present trends continue, as many as 1 in 3 Americans ...